This invention relates to personal mobility vehicle and wheelchair accessories, and more specifically, to a removable docking device attachable to personal mobility vehicles and wheelchairs enabling quick connection to a lift that permits raising, shifting, and lowering of the vehicle or wheelchair into a transport vehicle.
Personal mobility vehicles have gained widespread acceptance for use by elderly persons or persons with partial or total disabilities. Self-propelled wheelchairs and scooters are among the most popular personal mobility vehicles. As the use of self-propelled wheelchairs has increased, so had the need to transport such wheelchairs to remote locations. Wheelchairs (whether manual or self-propelled) are typically transported and stored in the storage area or trunk of another transport vehicle, such as a minivan or automobile.
The transportation and storage of wheelchairs presents numerous problems. Transporting a wheelchair, which often weighs as much or more than the user, requires its placement inside the storage area of the transport vehicle. Since most wheelchair users are elderly or partially handicapped persons, manually lifting the cumbersome wheelchair into the transport vehicle storage area can be an arduous task. To rectify these problems, many wheelchair users employ complex mechanical lifting systems to raise, shift, and lower the unwieldily wheelchair into the transport vehicle. Examples of such lifting systems include hoists, winches, cranes, lifting springs, or any other appropriate lifting system and can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,526 to Peterson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,810 to Androus, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,700 to Lin. However, the prior art mandates a sophisticated level of manual dexterity to both assemble and operate these lifting systems. Additionally, prior art lift systems require substantial user strength to properly position the wheelchair. Typically, the user must manually maneuver (using both arms) the wheelchair into the transport vehicle. Further, prior art lifting systems are structurally limited as assembly and disassembly of these complex mechanical devices is often a complicated and time-consuming procedure.
To overcome the difficulties of the previous lifts, an easily-operable wheelchair lift requiring only one hand to raise and lower the wheelchair has been developed as found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,853,282 to Bechler et al. However, the lift still requires a mounting point attached to the wheelchair. Improper attachment would result in an unbalanced wheelchair causing tipping of the chair. In addition, a permanently mounted attachment device could obstruct the use of the chair.